Bid to preserve school

By Tania Martin
A GROUP of Ferntree Gully residents are calling for their old school buildings to be heritage listed as they go up for sale on a government website.
The group known as the Association for the Preservation of the Ferntree Gully School Historical Buildings has been working for several months to save the former teacher’s residence and original classroom dating back to 1883.
Association secretary Edward Plenty said the group would like to see the building used as a community centre.
Mr Plenty said Ferntree Gully MP Anne Eckstein recently presented a 200-signatory petition to Parliament for the group calling for the government to preserve the buildings.
Meanwhile, Ms Eckstein said the Education Department had now declared the old school buildings surplus and would be advertising the sale of the buildings to other government departments.
Ms Eckstein said the buildings would be advertised on a government website for the next two months and if there is no interest from any government departments it will be offered to Knox City Council to purchase.
She said if the council is not interested in purchasing the buildings the land and the buildings will then have to be re-zoned and sold off.
But Ms Eckstein said she is confident that the buildings will not be pulled down if sold.
She said the buildings had been listed as a Federal Government heritage site in the past but had dropped off the list and Mr Plenty was seeking to have them re-listed.
Ms Eckstein said she is confident that the buildings will be re-listed as a heritage site and that they will be protected from being destroyed or pulled down.
Mr Plenty said the association was hoping that the buildings would be purchased by the council.
He said the only other option was to find someone who was willing to buy the buildings and lease them to the community.
But he said the problem with this solution was finding a landlord.
Mr Plenty said the association would like the buildings used as a learning centre or an art gallery.
Ms Eckstein said there was a strong possibility that the buildings would not stay in community ownership as the old Ferntree Gully Primary School was a prominent site on the corner of Dorset Road and Burwood Highway.
She said because of its location the buildings and land wouldn’t be cheap, which makes it out of reach of most community groups.
Ms Eckstein said the most realistic option was for the council or a community minded developer to purchase the site.
But she said that might not even happen if a government department decides to purchase the buildings and land.
“We won’t know the future of the buildings for at least two months,” she said.